Marijuana legalization is not the third rail of politics

The tide has shifted over the years, and, while all the politicians may not yet realize it, they’re smarter to hitch their wagons to legalization than prohibition.

Councilwoman Resigns Amid Backlash for Anti-Marijuana Vote

Days after officials in Columbia, Missouri certified that activists collected enough signatures to force a recall vote on a city councilwoman after she reversed her support for decriminalizing marijuana cultivation, she has resigned. […]

Chadwick had been targeted by a coalition of activists upset with her reversal on two issues. Despite supporting the decriminalization of growing marijuana during her campaign, she voted against it once seated on the Council. And she angered many voters by helping to broker a deal for a new student housing development after initially opposing the project. Together, groups working on those issues turned in more than enough signatures to force a recall vote that would have taken place in April. […]

“Chadwick made a mistake fairly typical of politicians. Quite simply, she underestimated the degree to which marijuana policy reform motivates constituents,” Amber Langston, deputy director of Show-Me Cannabis Regulation, told Marijuana.com in an interview. […]

Chadwick “thought she could appeal to the majority by saying she was in support, but didn’t count on that same majority holding her accountable for failing to stick to her word,” Langston said. […]

The episode is an indication that the politics of marijuana have significantly shifted. Whereas the issue was once the butt of jokes and seen by most politicians as too risky to touch for fear of being labeled “soft on crime,” reform now has majority voter support and legalization has been approved in four states and Washington, D.C.

“Chadwick’s recall effort and resulting resignation show that marijuana is anything but the third rail issue it used to be,” said Langston. “Instead, this discussion cannot be avoided any longer in the political arena. Hopefully this will be a lesson to other public representatives that the tide has turned on cannabis prohibition in Missouri.”

Good for Amber and the other activists involved!

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21 Responses to Marijuana legalization is not the third rail of politics

  1. allan says:

    I’m lovin’ it! That ain’t no camel’s nose under the tent, the camel is in the tent and refuses to be ignored… lessons from NotDwight in Oregon proving we cannabists are not a fluke, but a force. Props to Amber and all that made this happen.

  2. darkcycle says:

    Where did I wake up this morning?
    *rrrrrrrrumble*
    Uh-oh. HARD HATS! NOW! That whole thing’s gonna go!

  3. kaptinemo says:

    An unmistakable, thundering, resounding bitch-slap delivered by the new electorate. And over an issued once derided as being frivolous. Dwight Holman has company…as predicted here he would.

    No fluke, this. Behold the future. The political machinery is on notice: Adapt to the reality of a cannabis-savvy electorate or face extinction. Cannabis reform is the litmus test of true political progressiveness on social issues. If it turns yellow for cowardice for not supporting reform, then, we know all we need to, don’t we?

    We always had the numbers. And now, we’ve proved what those numbers can do, when sufficiently motivated. And after what we’ve suffered with for so long, we will only extend the olive branch once. If they arrogantly try to bite off the hand extending it, or spurn that hand, then their own political necks are forfeit.

    And we just proved who’s hands are holding the ax used to accomplish that.

      • kaptinemo says:

        I stand corrected…but remain elated. One more prohib’s political aspirations, to be paid for with our misery, have instead bit the dust, and the rest of her ilk have been spooked. The unspoken promise is obvious: They’re next.

        It’s going to take getting used to seeing them sweat, for once.

  4. claygooding says:

    Finally,,a cure for Reefer Madness and the only warning label required is take it or die politically.

  5. DdC says:

    Why Do Democrats Defend Nixon’s Drug War?

    Totally agree and can’t understand why Democrats support them?

    Why Democrats Are Reportedly Turning Their Backs on Debbie Wasserman Schultz

    Here are 13 issues where Democrats are working to make progress.

    Not a one includes ending the drug war or legalizing pot or even Hemp. So fucking afraid the Neocons will tease them they let their own suffer in cages or with debilitating illness. I have found the enemy of my enemy is also my enemy.

  6. allan says:

    oh man… I’ve pretty much reached saturation with all that I was behind wwwebwwwise now that I’m cruisin’ on WiFi. I’m increasing my wwweb presence ever so gradually, connecting with really old friends (ummm, yeah… and some of us are olderer than others). It’s like… custard, man. While I’m still anchored to the homestead I’m synching up with certain broader horizons via the ‘net. And I get to do an occasional up-side-the-head on ignorance. And that’s rewarding.

    But not just WiFi, having AdBlocker just helps so much. Part of fighting with dial-up slowness was all the crap on a site’s ads.

    But now… my bud Mike Jones shared this goody and it’s actually one of those things that I love about my new technology ’cause I can watch it in HD on this nice monitor.

    For you Pink Floyd fans:

    https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1007159392632225

    • Ooh La La! says:

      ‘Ad-block Plus’ added to google’s ‘Chrome Browser’ is a winning combination for me. Especially on a Mac. And if you really want to go to heaven, use a ‘Trackball Mouse’ with a scroll wheel.

    • John says:

      The new Pink Floyd album Endless River is great. I recommend checking it out if you’re a fan. It’s almost all instrumental (except for the last song), kinda mellow. It’s largely based on work done when they recorded The Division Bell in 1994, so if you didn’t like that, you may not like this new one. It’s a tribute album to keyboardist Rick Wright. Like all Floyd, the new album goes well with Cheetos.

  7. n.t. greene says:

    If they could only see–

    CLANG!

    What the fuck was that?

  8. allan says:

    speaking of out with the old:

    http://www.dailytidings.com/article/20150105/NEWS/150109934/101081/NEWS

    the old Sheriff, Winters, was no friend. The community spoke loudly:

    Falls, former deputy chief of the Ashland Police Department, replaces former Sheriff Mike Winters, who served as sheriff since taking office in 2003. During the most recent sheriff’s race, Winters announced he was throwing his support behind then-challenger Falls, but said he would continue to be sheriff if re-elected. Falls went on to receive 77 percent of the vote in the November election, according to the Jackson County Clerk’s Office

  9. Servetus says:

    Relevant Vulcan Quote for prohibitionists:

    From Star Trek Episode “Obsession”, (1967)

    Mr. Spock: “Gentlemen, may I suggest we no longer belabor the question of whether or not we should have gone after the creature. The matter has been rendered academic. The creature is now after us.”

  10. kaptinemo says:

    This is getting boring: New reports give conflicting takes on Colorado marijuana legalization

    (Best John Cleese imitation) “And, now, for something completely monotonous”:

    “The reports come from two groups: the pro-legalization Drug Policy Alliance and the anti-legalization Smart Approaches to Marijuana. Both reports look at the impact of legalization in Colorado, one year into recreational marijuana sales.

    as you can expect:

    ” The Smart Approaches to Marijuana report cites an increase in accidental marijuana ingestions by kids and a reported increase in marijuana use by Coloradans in 2012 and 2013.”

    Like ‘developmentally challenged’ kids, stomping up and down on a burning manure pile, splattering it everywhere, even on themselves, obsessed with putting out the fire, they just can’t help it:

    “Kevin Sabet, with Smart Approaches to Marijuana, said Colorado needs to do a better job of tracking legalization’s consequences.

    “We have 100 kinds of marijuana gummy bears out there but no way to find out what the costs of such a policy are,” he said in a statement.

    (Facepalm) Gummy Bears He’s down…to Gummy Bears. He thinks he’ll hit the voting parents right where they’re most vulnerable, the Achille’s Heel of every parent: kiddie junk food.

    They need to hire that little blonde girl in the blue dress; she knows her way around Wonderland. The prohibs are either lost in it…or reside there. Given their predilection for madness in continuing a policy everyone else is abandoning, the latter is most likely.

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